enriched olive oil may counter heart disease

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Enriched Olive Oil May Counter Heart Disease

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Olive oil enriched with green tea prevents the development of arteriosclerosis and heart disease in mice. Joint research between Rambam, the Technion and the University of Florence, Italy, has revealed that antioxidants from green tea combined with olive oil reduced the development of arteriosclerosis in mice by 20%.

New research involving Rambam Health Care Campus revealed that olive oil enriched with antioxidants from green tea prevent development of arteriosclerosis and heart disease. The new discovery was conducted as joint effort between Rambam, the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, and the University of Florence, Italy, which found a new way to dissolve in oil anti-oxidants from green tea that are usually soluble only in water.

Prof. Michael Aviram, head of the Lipid Research Laboratory of the Technion’s faculty of medicine and Rambam, has for some 25 years researched the mechanisms behind arteriosclerosis and its results (heart attack and stroke). Recently Prof. Aviram reported on a Mediterranean-based food that helps prevent arteriosclerosis: olive oil enriched with anti-oxidant polyphenols from green tea.

The uniqueness of this combination lies in the presence of oil- and water-soluble antioxidants that allow the body to take protective action regarding its tissues and fluids. (Our bodies are based on a composition of water and fats/lipids).

Prof. Aviram and his group examined how olive oil and olive oil enriched with polyphenols from green tea affects the development of arteriosclerosis in mice.

Virgin olive oil enriched with green tea contained twice as many polyphenols as regular virgin oil. Researchers gave mice the two types of oil and checked their affects on the development of arteriosclerosis, in comparison to the control group of mice that did not receive oil. Prof. Aviram found that the olive oil enriched with polyphenols lowered the developed of arteriosclerosis in mice by 20%. Olive oil that was not enriched with green tea reduced this phenomenon by 11%. According to Prof. Aviram, the anti-arteriosclerosis effect of the enriched olive oil was linked with the reduction of oxidation in the blood by 18%. The enriched oil also increased the elimination of cholesterol from arterial cell walls by HDL (the “good” cholesterol) at a rate of 140%. In comparison, the regular virgin oil boosted this elimination by only 42%.

These processes contribute to a reduced accumulation of cholesterol on arterial walls, and in turn, to the development of arteriosclerosis. These are the initial results of an ongoing research project based on a unique method by University of Florence Prof. Franco Vincieri, who innovated a technique for mixing oil with antioxidant polyphenols, the majority of which are water-soluble alone.

Prof. Michael Aviram, head of the Rambam’s Legacy Heritage Clinical Research was a pioneer in demonstrating the antioxidational qualities that prevent arteriosclerosis in human beings. He also shed light on the working of polyphenols from fruits of the “seven species” – pomegranate, grape (red wine), olive, fig and date – celebrated during the holiday of Sukkot.